Gaza City: Egyptian mediators held talks to firm up an Israel-Hamas ceasefire as Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip began to assess the damage from 11 days of intense Israeli bombardment. Saturday last marked the first full day of a truce that ended the fourth Israel-Hamas war in just over a decade. In the fighting, Israel unleashed hundreds of airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza, while Hamas and other militants fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel. More than 250 people were killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians.
Both Israel and Hamas have claimed victory. There was a widespread expectation that the ceasefire would stick for now, but that another round of fighting at some point seems inevitable. Underlying issues remain unresolved, including an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade, now in its 14th year, that is choking Gaza’s more than 2 million residents and a refusal by the Islamic militant Hamas to disarm.
The war has further sidelined Hamas’ main political rival, the internationally backed Palestinian Authority. Earlier, thousands of Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa compound chanted against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his self-rule government. “Dogs of the Palestinian Authority, out,” they shouted, and “The people want the president to leave”.
It was an unprecedented display of anger against Abbas. Despite his weakened status, he’ll be the point of contact for renewed US diplomacy, since Israel and the West, including the US, consider Hamas a terrorist outfit. US secretary of state Antony Blinken is to meet with Abbas and Israeli leaders in the coming week.
Abbas met with Egyptian mediators, discussing the rebuilding of Gaza and internal Palestinian ties, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. An Egyptian diplomat said that two teams of mediators are in Israel and the Palestinian territories to continue talks on firming up a ceasefire deal and security longterm calm.
